Head of the Serpent, Part II
Meanwhile, aboard the Iron Hand... Deke's turret trails just a few clicks shy of its target as he struggles to maintain a lock. "Ram 'em, I say. Gnats is all they are." His jaw sets in an expression of concentration, and his finger flexes over the firing stud. "That just might work, Deke. Only four of them...one on each shield arc...I think they can take the damage." Cooper says, closing the hole in the shields over the hangar bay, and bringing the shields to full strength, "Let's see how good you guys fixed up this ship, eh?" he says, bringing the engines to full power, and pushing the Dreadnaught's bow downward, attemping to break free from the A-Wings encircleing of the vessel, leaving it to the A-Wing pilots to get out of his way. "For J'ra!" the J'rathi known as Frinr says into the commlink as it swings the turret around for the nearest Awing, drawing a lead and firing, sending screaming arcs of red death out into space, hopefully towards the black A-Wing. "We got another bogey," Deke hisses, unleashing a few unaimed blasts of his own. The fighters are ignored at present as he regards the shuttle. "Orders?" "Things just got a little busy out here," Cooper sends on the commlink to the team on the starliner, glances down at a sensor readout, then says to the crew on the Dreadnaught and the X-Wing pilots, "Destroy that shuttle! Ignore the fighters!" he yells over the comms, setting the Dreadnaught's course towards the Lambda shuttle, and activates the tractor beam, attemping to lock it onto the Shuttle, and hold it in place. Meanwhile, aboard the Vendetta... For a moment, Kenobi is struck dumb and silent. His eyes are wide and his mouth has fallen open. When he finally regains some sense of reason in his addled thoughts, he snaps his gaze toward Valin: "Get them back to the Iron Hand. Use a force pike to cut through the blast doors. I'll..." The Jedi Master returns his attention to the crowd of Sith Lords, "...delay them." Valin shakes his head, his own face a mask of horror as he steps up beside Obi-Wan, "You cannot hold them long enough alone, Obi-Wan. Cryyalla..Nee'luk. I am an old Jedi...with little purpose in this new galaxy, perhaps we can give you enough time to save the new." He adjusts his stance, the calm never fully returning to his face, "Go." And watches the Vader's approach. Nee'luk begins to backpedal slowly, his sabers still out and senses alert. It is one of these latter that he extends, attempting to sweep the minds of the various incarnations of Darth Vader. The Knight is seeking illusion; seeking to find if any of these are true Force-wielding clones of the Dark Lord. Even while he does this, he nods to Cryyalla, speaking. "We must go. Cut through the hatchway." Cryyalla roars something definately negative in shyriiwook at the departing shuttle, sliding a bit as she comes to a stop. Breathing deeply, she stands, watching it fly... as thirty Lord Darth Vaders make their way out of the pair of remaining shuttles. Unlike Valin and Obi-Wan, she does not stand to fight, and unlike Nee'Luk, she doesn't bother trying to sense them out as she turns, running toward the blast doors, paw waving the pair of rebels onward with her. She plunges her vibrant 'saber into the doorway as she comes to it, liquefying the metal at that point. Aegis looks out over the crowd of Sith Lords, his eyes wide in disbelief, then amazement as Kenobi and Valin step forward. Sadness clouds his eyes as he realizes that the two elder Jedi are about to sacrifice themselves. "It was an honor," he utters before turning and following the black furred Wookiee to the blast doors. Javak squeezes the trigger, sending a concussion grenade rocketing towards the Sith Lords. He then proceeds to gulp, and run after the retreating Wookiee, massive feet thundering on the deck. "You have something that belongs to me," the first Vader intones toward Nee'luk through the hissing of his rebreather. He raises his gauntleted left hand and gathers his will to try and snatch the lightsaber that belonged to his prior incarnation. Twenty-eight other Vaders raise their left hands to join the effort. The thirtieth Vader concerns himself with Javak's ill-advised grenade launch, using Force telekinesis to try and fling the grenade back at the intruders. That concentration of will makes it all too clear to the Jedi: These are not illusions, but thirty identical clones of Darth Vader, strong in the Force. Nee'luk simply releases the saber, turning back towards Cryyalla and sprinting forth. He, too, jams his saber into the hatch, seeking to make a semicircular cut to match the Wookiee's, and in doing so make the process go faster. Obi-Wan Kenobi hears the foomp! of Javak's grenade launch, and his jaw clenches as he watches the explosive projectile arcing through the air toward the Sith Lords ... and then comes back toward them, impelled by the Vaders. "Liability," comes drily from his mouth as he gathers his own will, brings his left hand up and tries once more to use his Force telekinesis to deflect the incoming grenade. The old Jedi's effort deflects the grenade, shifting its course so that it spins off toward the pile of crates where one of the Crimson Guards is just coming around, trying to pull himself up from the stupor caused by his earlier impact. The grenade goes off a few feet from him, catching him in its concussive bubble. He's down for the count. Meanwhile, outside the Vendetta... It takes Sidd only a moment to gain his bearing as he undocks from the Iron Hand though in that time, it seems, he misses the Shuttle leaving the liner. For the moment, the Fighter Pilot ignores the other fighters and searches for the target he was ordered to destroy. The black forms of the A-wings easily roll out of the way of the larger ship's gunfire, now moving in to skim along the Dreadnaught's hull. In perfect synchronized movements, 3 of the A-wings retain a V formation, while the 4th angles off to intercept Sidd's X-wing. Frinr doesn't reply vocally as blood pumps fasther through its veins. The J'rathi turns the turret, drawning down on the shuttle, firing again, the turbo lasers cranking out another arc of blaster fire. "Eat... flashy lights!" Deke snarls as he brings his gun emplacement to bear upon the lone shuttle. His eyes flash wickedly as he depresses the trigger rapidly, an almost manic grin gracing his dried lips. Sidd may not have noticed the shuttle, but he notices to A-Wing heading for him. The Fighter Pilot promptly turns his X-Wing to engage the fighter upon him, intent on attacking first. "Take it out!" Cooper says, reinforcing his previous orders. He continues his course towards the shuttle, and tries once more to lock the Dreadnaught's tractor beams on her. The shuttle's pilot obviously knows a few tricks of his own, as he rolls the Y-shaped shuttle out of the way of all the blasts, and even managing to get out of range of the tractor beam as it blasts out towards space at full speed. The single A-wing that is barreling towards Sidd looses a pair of concussion missiles after dipping to avoid the other craft's lasers, while the 3 other A-wings skim the surface of the Dreadnaught, loosing six concussion missiles towards the bridge of the larger craft. Frinr continues firing at the shuttle, "Find those shuttles along the hull. They have been out of sight too long." The J'rathi squeezes the trigger on the gun emplacement, "And find out why the guns are not all firing." "Frick!" Cooper says, once more trying to lock the tractor beam on the shuttle, regardless of weather it's still in range. With the A-Wings skimming it, Cooper grunts, "Hold on!" he yells, as he hits the Dreadnaught's manuvering thrusters, attemping to smite one or more of the A-wings from space with the Dreadnaught's shields, transfering any extra power to that section of shielding. Sidd attempts to move his fighter out of the way of the Concussion missles fired at him, but unfortunately he isn't fast enough and they collide with the X-Wing, knocking out both his generators and proton torpedoes. Though he isn't out just yet and the Fighter Pilot targets the A-Wing once more and fires his lasers. Undaunted, Deke continues to launch barrage after barrage at the shuttle, a steady stream of blasts lancing forth from his turret. "This guy's inhuman. We got missiles or somethin'? Use 'em already!" At the edge of the dreadnaught's weapons range, the shuttle dodges one blast to land in the path of a second volley of turbolaser fire. The small vessel's shields collapse under the onslaught of focused energy, and a second bolt obliterates one of the craft's wings, sending the craft spinning off into space, engines obviously dead. Sidd's A-wing easily dodges out of the way of the X-wing's laser blasts, returning fire with its own twin-linked lasers, peppering blasts towards the T-65's fuselage while the other trio of A-wings smoothly arc around and perform another long strafing run on the Dreadnaught's shields, combining concussion missiles with laserfire. Frinr swings its turret around, aiming for the Awing that is firing on Sidd, "Commander, That Incom fighter will not make it." the clear skinned one replying softly through the commlink as it squeezes the trigger. "Sidd, jump! Get out of here! You're damaged!" Cooper says over the commlink. He sets the Dreadnaught's course directly for the now damaged shuttle, engines at full speed. He activates the tractors beam again, but the shuttle's out of range. Instead, he switches it to repulse, and aims it the missiles, trying to deflect one of them away from the Dreadnaught. If there's more than one tractor beam, he tries to use those to deflect other missiles. Sidd curses to himself as his fighter dies from the A-Wing's laser onslaught. In response, the pilot hits the eject with a gloved fist, firing him from his fighter into the space around it. "Did you see -THAT-!?!" The gambler roars emphatically over the comm channels. "And you dared to mock the godliness that is Deke." The excitement of the moment coupled with an overdose of adrenaline have claimed this young Tatooinian. Nostrils flared and hair matted with sweat, he gasps for breath while returning his attentions to the trio of fighters still peppering the Dreadnought. Again laser fire arcs outward to meet them. Meanwhile, aboard the Vendetta... Valin doesn't bother with anything fancy, vague, or elaborate. To distract the Vaders he chooses the direct method. Flexing his legs slightly, the Jedi attempts to launch himself over, and into the mass of Vaders, saber flashing below him. A risky, if not suicidal move, but the Jedi takes it still. The Twi'leki Jedi continues carving with his remaining lightsaber, slicing as fast as he can to allow a path to freedom to be opened. VaderPrime, the one holding two lightsabers, hisses through his rebreather as he watches the leaping Jedi. To his companions, Vader says: "Leave him to me." The other Vaders nearby back up to give VaderPrime some room. Cryyalla strains her wookiee muscles, ivory teeth gritting together as she pulls her lightsaber on an arc to meet Nee'Luk's own, dragging the blade through the resisting blast plating as it hisses and spits. The blast doors give under the fiery strain of the dual lightsabers, whooshing open. Nee'luk, when the opportunity comes, bolts to freedom, beckoning for his compatriots to follow. He does not look back, and there is no pause in his movements as he flees. Fear, perhaps normally alien to the Jedi, is now in his mind. Aegis watches the concussion grenade get batted around before detonating away from the retreating group. "Hold your fire," he advises Javak before looking to the pair of Jedi rapidly carving their way through the blast doors. He blows a sigh of relief as the blast doors whoosh open. "Let's go," he states, ducking through with hs rifle at ready, sparing one last glance to the valorous pair covering their exit. A string of swear words emerges from Javak's mouth, as his grenade is deflected. After a moment, he glances at the rifle, and seems to decide that there isn't much he can do to help with it. He then runs, once again greating a terrible racket as he flees. Obi-Wan Kenobi glances back once as the other Jedi finish cutting through the blast doors. "Go," is all he says. And then he stalks off toward the crowd of Sith Lords to join Valin in the futile fight. Valin slides forward, saber tip flicking out towards one of the encircling Vaders before coming back towards VaderPrime, the blade a light yellow blur as it cuts a path horizontally towards his opponents chest dipping down at the last moment as the Jedi moves forward and to the side, the lightsaber sweeping at VaderPrime's leg. ~There is no death; there is only the Force. And may it be with you,~ Cryyalla sends with a sorrowful tint to the pair of Jedi sacrificing themselves to give her and the others time to escape. That is all before she follows Nee'Luk, rushing through the newly-opened set of blast doors. VaderPrime brings his saber blade down to easily intercept Valin's saffron energy blade. The dark lord's visor gleams darkly as he leans closer to the Jedi, rebreather hissing. Besides his own reflection, Valin can see one of the other Vaders behind him, stabbing outward with a crimson lightsaber, aiming for the Jedi's undefended back. As he sees the sneak attack in progress, Kenobi shouts: "No!" And launches himself with the Force, trying to bring himself down between Valin and the other Vader, using his blade to try and knock the crimson saber aside. Kenobi manages to land between Valin and the other Vader while deflecting the Sith Lord's sneak attack. Meanwhile, outside the Vendetta... The single A-wing that took out Sidd's T-65 slides gracefully through the expanding cloud of debris, rolling away from the turbolasers to rejoin the trio of A-wings attacking the dreadnaught. As one of the pairs of concussion missiles is pushed out towards space, the other four slam into the dreadnaught's hull. The dreadnaught itself begins heading towards the Spaceliner, and the shuttle beyond it. From the Spaceliner, a few light green blasts eminate towards the Dreadnaught, doing minimal damage. And then panels all over the liner begin sliding apart, revealing hidden heavy turbolaser cannons that slide upwards and pan to release ranging blasts towards the Dreadnaught. In all, ten turbolaser cannons reveal themselves and begin firing upon the Rebels. Frinr swings the turret it is in towards the starliner, "Commander, the shuttle our friends are on just detached." Careful aim is taken at the starliner, "Get your pilot and get us out of here." Clear fingers squeeze the trigger, aiming at the ship that is not what it seemed. Cooper curses, attemping to lock onto Sidd's escape pod with the tractor beam, and pull it into the hangar bay as the Dreadnaught heads for the shuttle carrying Imperials. The first round of fire from the Starliner misses, however, those missiles, aside from two, didn't. "Our shields are down to fifty percent! Damcon, get on them!" he says, attempting to close the distance between them and the shuttle, "Gunnery, if you're still out of the shuttle's range, shoot at anything shooting at us!" Cooper clenches his teeth together, sneering at the chart of vessels on his sensor display. Deke curses as his attack -just- misses its intended targets. "Better part of valor," he adds, another burst of energy erupting from his emplacement to hopefully knock an A-wing out of the battle. Meanwhile, aboard the Vendetta... Valin swings around, moving himself into a rough back to back position with Obi-Wan, two hands are returned to his lightsaber, sending it slashing out in an arc at the closest Vader, his face composed as he recites in a firm voice, in the midst of battle, "There is no emotion; there is peace." His mask is back in place, apart from the faintest of smiles. "There is no Force," VaderPrime intones through his hissing rebreather, in a mockery of the Jedi Code, "there is only death." He uses one lightsaber to try and block Valin's attack, while jamming the other toward the Jedi's stomach. Valin's lightsaber sinks lightly into the side of the Vader's armor before the crimson blade punctures his abdomen. The Jedi sinks to his knees, the last words of the Jedi code hissed quietly, "There is no ignorance; there is knowledge. There is no passion; there is serenity. There is no death; there is the Force." The last sentence barely audible. The lightsaber piercing the Jedi is pulled back, Valin toppling forward slightly, then only a clatter, his deactivated lightsaber falls to the decking, robes collapsing into a soft bundle, empty. Kenobi finds himself between two Vaders in close proximity, his only ally left now dead and vanished. He draws a deep breath and closes his eyes, gathering his will and raising his lightsaber in both hands so it is held before his face, parallel to his body. The other twenty-eight Vaders move into a circle around the twins with Kenobi in the middle, giving the Jedi nowhere to run - even if he wanted to. "This moment," VaderPrime begins, while the other Vader finishes, "is long overdue." Simultaneously, they swing their crimson sabers at the defenseless Obi-Wan Kenobi. The old Jedi vanishes, his deactivated lightsaber clunking on the deckplates as his brown and beige robes billow softly downward, empty. Both Vaders stomp tentatively on the empty clothes left by the dead Jedi. Satisfied, other Vaders move in, collect the lightsabers, and then they walk back up the ramps of their shuttles. Meanwhile, outside the Vendetta... Strangely enough, the Spaceliner's turbolasers completely avoid shooting at the escaping shuttle. They don't, however, cease their assault on the Dreadnaught. Now that the range is found, the gunners on the Imperial capital ship fire a full volley from all of the ten heavy turbolasers, while the 4 A-wings now begin skimming along the surface of the Dreadnaught, raking the weakening shields with laserfire as they go. From the spaceliner, comes a crisp Imperial accent. "You are beaten, Rebels. Surrender now and you -will- live." The Jedi Cryyalla takes a seat in one of the bridge chairs, strapping herself in quickly, the foot-long tube that is her lightsaber still in her paw. Breathing deeply as if finishing a marathon, and snapping her eyes shut, brow furrowed in an attempt to bring her screaming nerves back under her control, Cryyalla attempts to send one final message to the Dreadnaught's bridge before the shuttle jumps. ~Leave,~ is the message she sends, quite succinct and to the point. Aegis frowns as he reaches for the hyperspace lever. "They're not targeting us," he observes, pondering the implications. Shaking his head as he realizes they have no time to discuss it, he grabs the hyperspace levers and pulls them, sending the shuttle rocketing into the familiar blue and white swirl of hyperspace. Frinr continues firing at the starliner not starliner. "This was a trap human allies. If nothing else is destroyed, that queship must go. Something is not right about it. Destroy it with everything we have left and then we must go." Javak grunts, as he stares out the viewport at the strines.. He then looks over at Cryyalla. "Are they leavin'?" "Yeah, well, we don't have anything left!" Cooper yells over the commlink, the ship rocking as the shields go down, weapons fire now impacting the Dreadnaught's hull. "They're away," he says as the Rebel shuttles jumps, "And so are we." he looks towards the navigation officer, "Jump!" he says to the navigation officer. Deke bites his lip as the Dreadnought is buffeted under heavy fire. "I'm all for gettin' my cowardly arse outta here right the frick now." Just the same, the gambler redirects his fire, now blasting away at the starliner for all he's worth. Sidd continues to drift towards the Iron Hand in his escape pod as it is tractored towards it, hopefully reaching the hangar bay before the Dreadnaught jumps. Cryyalla doesn't meet Javak's gaze as she nods. Well, it's mostly a nod, but more of a rock back and forth. Her breathing comes quickly, still, and her eyes are still closed. Her left paw loosens and regrips on her lightsaber hilt. Otherwise, the black-furred wookiee is silent. With the shuttle safely in hyperspace, Aegis turns from the controls to face the Wookiee. "How'd we walk right into that? How could -THIRTY- Vader clones escape the notice of four Jedi?" he asks in frustration. As the navigation officer triggers the hyperdrive, there is a very familiar but nasty sound: The sound of a hyperdrive failing to engage. The Dreadnaught continues gliding in space, while the Spaceliner takes all of the Dreadnaught's shots on the shields, and continues pounding back with all its turrets. Meanwhile, the A-wings split up as they see the Dreadnaught's shields collapse. One pair of A-wings speed towards the ship's engines, while the other two head towards Deke's turret, releasing Concussion missiles as they near it. Frinr flips a switch, keeping the turret firing on its current target as it quickly unstraps from the netting, "I'm going..." the J'rathi says into the commlink, then climbs down from the gun emplacement and runs for engineering. "Shit!" Cooper yells as the hyperdrive fails to initiate. Soon after, the ship lurches violently as concussion missiles tear into the vessel's unprotected hull. Unsecured objects clatter to the floor, the lights blink, threatening to go out. The Dreadnaught's speed has slowed, too. Relief washes over Cooper's face as an indicator on the J'rathi display on front of him, and a voice is heard over the commlink, "Hyperdrive back online. Try not to break it again." Imemdiately, Cooper looks towards the navigation officer, again yelling, "Jump!" this time, however, the stars in the viewport turn into white streaks then the blue haze of hyperspace. Within the Iron Hand's Hangar Bay, Sidd crawls out of his escape pod. Though upon the feeling of the Dreadnaught entering hyperspace, the Fighter Pilot lets out a sigh of relief and collapses against what remains of his X-Wing. Javak nods, slowly, as he stares out at the swirls of Hyperspace. "Where to?" He asks, before reaching out a hand. "Slick, calm down. They's said they was a great evil... Didn't none of 'em say they knew fer sure what it was." Deke follows the arc of an approaching A-wing, laser blasts trailing in its wake. He grits his teeth in annoyance, and as it and another fighter form to assault his own turret, he rips out of his netting with a curse to throw himself out and avoid the unpleasantry of concussion missiles exploding in his face. Cryyalla's eyes snap open, and she attempts to stand, leaning for Aegis, staring straight into the man's own optical orbs. Apparently, though, she's forgotten about the crash harness she's strapped herself in with, and doesn't get very far in her attempt, plopping back down into her seat. The wookiee doesn't try again, but continues to stare at 'Gis, readjusting her grip on her lightsaber hilt in silence. Category:Reach of the Empire Logs